This invention relates to shipping of bottles or containers, and more particularly to an apparatus, system and method for protecting such bottles or containers during shipping.
It is often desirable to ship bottles or other vessels, typically containing liquids. However, the typical shipping environment is replete with situations that can result in damage to the vessels and their contents. In the wine industry, for example, especially in the high end product lines or in gift packaging or monthly shipping “club” industries, it is common practice to ship wine, in a corrugated shipping carton with some type of protection to prevent the bottles from becoming broken and spilling their contents during shipping or to prevent labels or capsules, the plastic or foil closure portion that covers the cork and part of the neck of a wine bottle, or the foil or plastic covered wire cage cork retainer as employed with the punt style champagne bottles, from being abraded. This is also the case for shipping of, for example, protein drinks, culinary liquids, mineral water or other specialty waters.
In the past, plastic packaging material including plastic foams, such as polystyrene foams, styrene acrylonitrile copolymer foams, polyethylene foams, polyethylene copolymer foams, expanded polyethylene bead foams, polyurethane foams, vacuum formed plastic such as PET (polyethylene terephthalate), as well as corrugated inserts (whether plastic or paper based) have been used as a protective packaging inserts, hereinafter called shipping protectors, wherein various configurations of shipping protectors are employed to provide layers or defined spaces for maintaining the bottles in spaced relation to one another. With these types of shipping protectors, a number of different types and configurations of shipping protectors may be needed to accommodate different bottle shapes and sizes. Since different shipping protector types might be needed for the different bottle shapes, it can become difficult to predict how many of each shipping protector item should be kept in inventory. This has lead to a multitude of different wine shipping protectors being introduced in an attempt to accept the widest range of bottle geometries.
Other wine bottle shipping protectors employ a mating pair configuration wherein two parts form a paired type shipping protector (whether hinged or separate unhinged portions) such that each layer of bottles requires a pair of shipping protector parts to completely surround the bottles, i.e., from above and below. Such shipping protector, whether made of plastic or of molded pulp, also referred to molded fiber, typically employ a bottle engaging geometry configuration on one face thereof and support surfaces on the opposite side such that in order to properly pack and protect a row of wine bottles, two such shipping protectors are positioned around the bottles, i.e., a receiving layer below and a paired or mating layer above, with the bottle engaging geometries of the two shipping protector pieces face-to-face and the support foot side of each protector piece facing outwardly with respect to the bottles.
Shipping protectors are commonly provided in single bottle, double bottle or 3, 4, 6 or 12 bottle configurations, for example, designed to receive and ship the bottle in either a stand up or lay down configuration.
With the various configurations of shipping protectors, it becomes critical during loading of the shipping carton that the particular shipping protector parts be oriented correctly both with respect to top to bottom and left to right orientation within the package in order to ensure that the bottles and packing fit efficiently within the shipping carton. Not providing this orientation can slow down throughput in high volume shipping operations, since the packer must properly orient the unstacked shipping protector to ensure that it is of the correct orientation prior to beginning the packing process in order to receive the bottles.
A larger problem with the high speed packaging fulfillment operations, monthly wine shipping clubs and the like is the need for universality of a shipping protector. A big cost (of time) is the situation when a bottle comes down the packing line and the bottle is of a non-traditional size or shape that will not fit within the industry standard shipping protectors. If the packers have to stop to get a special size shipping protector because a bottle will not fit with the standard size shipping protectors, then the cost of operation increases.
To attempt to address this issue, historically over time, wine shipping protectors have had their geometries hollowed out or opened up to provide greater bottle size flexibility. But in taking these steps, the protection or capture performance of the shipping protection provided is compromised, subjecting smaller diameter and shorter bottles to excessive movement during shipment, leading to label and/or capsule abrasion.
A further disadvantage to standard plastic shipping protectors, especially expanded foams, is that they are less environmentally friendly as compared to shipping protectors of molded fiber, which are typically made from recycled paper and themselves can be recycled into reclaimed waste paper stock. The plastic and foam type shipping protectors are manufactured from non-renewable resources, i.e. petroleum, are difficult to recycle and do not easily biodegrade. Therefore, a growing trend is toward use of recycled and recyclable materials for shipping protectors, such as molded fiber.
Another type of shipping protector is the fold up corrugated shipping protector, which is supplied flat and is “assembled” by folding to a configuration adapted to insert a bottle therein and designed to provide a degree of protection during shipping. The assembling is either done on the line of a packing operation or must be pre-assembled in quantities to be available during packing. The on line assembly requires time and raises repetitive motion injury concerns from the repeated assembly motion. On the other hand, if die cut corrugated pre-assembled shipping protector inserts are employed, the packaging cost is increased and ready-to-use packaging storage needs are increased.
To overcome some of the issues with the prior art, molded fiber shipping protectors have been developed, for example, those described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,820,743 by Western Pulp Products Co., the assignee of the present application.
In the past, considering the wine industry, there had been four bottle shapes which were predominantly used in 750 ml volume configurations, Riesling/hock style bottles, Chardonnay/Burgundy style bottles, champagne punt bottles, and Bordeaux style bottles. The Riesling/hock bottle has a more elongated neck and provides a relatively smooth transition from the body of the bottle through the neck. The Chardonnay/Burgundy bottle is of a slightly quicker transition between the body of the bottle and the neck portion so as to have a less elongated appearance than the Riesling/hock bottle. Also, the Riesling/hock bottle is typically somewhat taller than the Chardonnay/Burgundy style bottle. The Bordeaux bottle is substantially the same height as a Chardonnay/Burgundy bottle but rather than employing a relatively concave transition from the body of the bottle through the neck, it has a convex transition portion into a substantially cylindrical shaped neck. The Champagne bottle is a low shoulder profile (fat) bottle, with an indentation or punt in the bottom thereof.
But, in order to provide a distinguishing appearance to the product at the retail sales point, to differentiate the product from others on display, wineries are utilizing varied and unique shaped bottles. Such bottle variations typically involve making the bottle longer, more tapered or less tapered, or of larger diameter. Such varied shapes are less likely to fit or to be adequately secured in shipping protectors in accordance with the prior art, and are more inclined to move excessively back and forth, whether side-to-side or end-to-end (or rotationally) excessively during shipping. This excessive movement results in abrasion or scuffing of the bottle label and capsule. Since a factor in purchase of wine for many buyers is the aesthetic properties of the bottle and label, such abrasion makes the bottle less desirable to the consumer, collector or retailer, and may make it difficult to sell for full price.
Shippers of bottles, such as wine fulfillment operations, have speed and versatility requirements for any packaging systems. Having to employ multiple choices of shipping protectors in order to ship the variety of products is undesirable as it reduces the purchasing power of the user by having to maintain plural sets of shipping protector inventories, and, can reduce packing line throughput.